Four associations from Srebrenica announced the filing of a joint lawsuit against Serbia and Republika Srpska following the verdict against the former heads of the State Security of Serbia, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, for participating in a joint criminal enterprise, as well as for crimes committed in five municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one municipality in Croatia. The “Mothers of Srebrenica” Association says that they will not give up seeking justice for every victim of genocide.
Fadila Efendić’s son and husband were killed 28 years ago in Srebrenica. Her only consolation is the fact that she can visit their graves. Dozens of members of her family alone are still being searched for. The verdict against Stanišić and Simatović is another piece of evidence, he says, that shows that Serbia is directly responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica and numerous other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“They should apologize to the victims and accept the guilt and tell their generations the truth about what happened, what were the goals, what were the needs to kill so many people, to kill innocent children from the school desk.”, Fadila Efendic, president of the “Mothers of Srebrenica” Association said.
Sehida Abdurahmanović’s husband was killed in 1992. How many close and distant family members were killed in 1995, she says, she never dared to count. Still searching for his brother.
“We have been waiting for that verdict for many years. It may be the key to all the processes that may follow in the future. You know that we lost the lawsuit, that Serbia somehow managed to wash away all the crimes. However, this verdict put her stamp on all the denials that have been made so far. I don’t think she will be able to do that in the future.”, Abdurahmanovic said.
With the final judgment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts in The Hague, Stanišić and Simatović became the first two Serbian officials convicted of crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We decided to go that way, to file a lawsuit and for Serbia to be punished, not only to be punished for killing directly, there is no longer a civil war and that will certainly be stated in the lawsuit, but it is known exactly who attacked and who committed a crime and genocide against our loved ones,” said Nura Begovic, the president of the “Women of Srebrenica” Association.
Lawyer Damir Alić says that it is legally justified for associations to file a civil lawsuit before the competent court in Serbia.
“Primarily, the legal basis for such a lawsuit would be the verdict against Stanišić and Simatović, in which it was explicitly determined that it was a joint criminal enterprise between the authorities of the Republic of Serbia and the Army of the Republika Srpska. That would be the basis. That would be the legal basis for compensation in a civil lawsuit which is carried out after this judgment.”
Alić believes that the process will be difficult and long-lasting, because it is necessary to find a law firm in Serbia that would lead the entire process, and Serbia has not shown the will to participate in such processes so far. He emphasizes that this process should definitely be entered in order to use all legal remedies before the domestic courts and to ultimately seek justice before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Representatives of the association from Srebrenica say that they will not give up on the process, no matter how long it lasts.
